The Framers Forum

Hi
Any recommendations for an electric spray painting system. I tend to paint a lot of frames ,paint brush and roller getting a bit tedious.
I have a separate little work shop so mess not a problem .
All the best.
Jon

My choice would be a HVLP spray unit with air supplied with an air compressor. They are easier to control and have less overspray.

I have this:

https://ingenialifesolutions.com/produc ... spray-gun/

Great bit of kit and uses dewalt batteries if you have any.

I use the Wagner extra fine HVLP
Sprayer for white frames as I do a lot of them. For coloured frames it’s rattle cans by Montana. Ive got an account with
them now so can get excellent price breaks
For my own use and for resale.

Which one exactly do you use Alan?

For some frames, I'm quite tempted to look at using rattle cans and I'm assuming that I need to provide a smoother well primed and sanded surface for a sprayed surface than I would need for just a brush painted finish. I've not get very much experience with spray painting frames, but I'm quite interested in understanding a bit more about, what might be involved, if anyone would like to give me some clues, or hints.

Thanks,
Marks.

It’s very straight forward. Plain wood frame. Fill and sand, clean the dust off (I use meths) and spray. Generally three coats.

There are spray fillers and primers but they are not really necessary I my opinion. The main challenge is the ventilation and
separate room.

Thanks for that Alan,

I won't be able to have a separate room, but I do have an out building which will get cleared out in a few months and that has plenty of space, when it just cleared out, but it currently has no electricity, or water so no lighting, or heating and no windows for ventilation. However, it's all there is, so it's that, or nothing. Some of my older mouldings bought as cheap discontinued mouldings are already factory finished mouldings a if I stack them together and spray them with a solvent based automotive rattle can primer, the solvent might create a bit of grip on to the original factory finish and provide an adequate base for a rattle can top coat. Hopefully it might be a decent finished result.

Thinking about it, I have a side passageway, which runs along the side of the shop and under my flat up stairs and I could always spray frames inside a cardboard box on my black and decker workmate, using rattle cans. I suspect that over spray is less of an issue when using rattle cans, also any over spray is likely to stick to the inside of the box.

In the past, I have laid some items that I have sprayed with rattle cans on newspaper and the over spray has stuck to the newspaper, which has prevented it floating around in the air and gradually settling out of the air within the room where I have been spraying and it seemed to work out quite well.

It’s the fumes you need to watch for or use water based spray which are available. If you are interested I am
Selling some colour cans via my website and can cut you a deal. The ones I have are low odour and low
Pressure so should work ok with the setup
You describe.


Alan

I'm still thinking about spraying some of my old stock of factory finished mouldings and frames using rattle cans. The main problem with many of these older mouldings is that they tend to look a bit dated these days. I'm not really looking to be trying to sand these down to much as I'm thinking that they already have a smooth base provided by the factory finish. Many these mouldings are a bit skinny for today's customers, so I am planning on using some of these mouldings to make stacked moulding frames, which brings me to my next problem, of what is best to use as a filler / primer.

Getting a primer to stick to smooth and often shhinny finishes seems to me to be quite a difficult issue. Added to this, it will be necessary to fill the joins between the different elements which have been stacked together to make ond profile, but I am thinking about what would work best for this. I'm tending to favour some sort of rattle can primer, but will a rattle can primer also fill the joins as well? I'm not so sure, so I need some suggestions from someone with more experience of rattle can primers, that my self.

I am also counting on finding something that will adhere well to the original factory finishes on these mouldings, but maybe this is just being fanciful, when hoping for this. If all else fails, I will just stack some of these mouldings together with the existing finishes only and sell them as they are! They don't owe me very much at all and now that I am in much smaller premises I need to reduce my stock to be able to create enough space to allow my business to have room to operate in a satisfactory way.

Any suggestions about suitable primers would be most welcome,
Many thanks,
Mark.

Thanks for reply's .
all the best

Jon

Halfords etching primer. Sticks to anything.

Thanks Alan,

What's it like for filling gaps between stacked mouldings? If I can get a nice seemless finsih across the mouldings of a stacked moulding frame,I will be able to get a worthwhile price for each frame, If not, I will have to down grade my prices to suit, but it is still quite difficult to know how well we will fair , in terms of customer sales an customer attitude to prices at this stage. I almost certainly going to be preparing a range of ready made frames, at a range of prices, to try and figure out what the economy is going to be like for 2021. Spaers, slips and fillets, or add on box frame rear extensions, will probably work well to spray then and perhaps in some cases, the necessary appearance will not always require priming before painting some bits. Internal spacers inside deep box frames are very often not particularly visible, especially if a mount is included behind the glass and in front of the spacers. Ready made box frames have always been quite popular sales items for me, so I am expecting to do a range of those for stock.

The usually high street sources for ready made frames, don't seem to have much of a stock, or in depth range of sizes of deep box frames. Most of the imported ready made frame sizes, seem to be optimised to to control the packing and shipping issues and costs of transporting them for where they are produced it the far east and the overall unit cost to the retailers, leaving some definite gaps in the market for us framers to exploit. Nearly always, I find that customers already know what needs to fit inside the box frame and can't find what they are looking for in the high street shops, limited range of choices. I'm always interested in the gaps in the market, which are left by the "one size fits all" and "run of the mill" merchantise that most mainstream shops and chains seem to be aiming at. There is most definitely a good market for niche items which don't fit the usual mass market mould.

My assumption also is that lots of people will be avoiding the larger and bigger shops, in favour of the smaller and less crowded local shop, while there's much concern about avoiding places where the current virus is quite wide spread, so those of us with less crowded smaller shops, may do better than expected while exploiting some of these opertunities. Rattle can of spray paint, may not necessarily be the cheapest option, but I am thinking that the speed and flexibilities, which rattle cans can give us may be extremely useful at this time.

It’s a primer not a filler. Use no more nails to join the moulding, it can fill a few gaps, but wipe the excess away quickly. After
That I use the white filler from Tesco. Works a treat.

It’s a primer not a filler. Use no more nails to join the moulding, it can fill a few gaps, but wipe the excess away quickly. After
That I use the white filler from Tesco. Works a treat.

thanks Alan,

I already use no more nails as a filler, but did not realise that it sticks to glossy factory finished moulding surfaces.

Mark. The 'No-Nonsense' non-solvented cartridge glue from Screwfix. It's cheap.
I buy it in boxes of 12. It is great for grouting stacked frames. Dries fast and when dry it will
readily accept water-based paints.

Thanks Peter,

Unfortunately, I don't have a Screwfix near me, so it will have to be something else.

But thanks anyway,
Mark.

They deliver.